Currently a college kid, finance major, poker player.. obvi.

I do the majority of my web browsing / emails / etc. on my iPad but as a finance major I need a computer for Excel work etc.

Also now that I'm back at school I need a desktop for poker.. 4 tabling Bovada possibly with HEM2.

I found this all in one PC:
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-19-5-In.../dp/B00K920ERI

And the reviews looked pretty good on it.... but then I found this:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/24666...-a-tablet.html

And it scared me that this all in one might not even be able to handle the simple poker that I want to play on it...

I'm not stuck with the "all in one" desktop if there are ones for better value. But I am looking to stay under $400, which I know is low but as a broke college kid I cant go breaking the bank right now lol.

Any opinions on whether this thing could handle my poker load and school work is greatly appreciated, also if anyone has any other computers they suggest I look at, or even a heads up on what type of specs I should be on the lookout for when evaluating a potential new computer.

Or if you wanna tell me I'm being a crazy tightwad only wanting to spend $400 thats welcome too lol.

Thanks in advance,
Josh

poker is not anywhere near as taxing on a computer as you think. they should both be fine. frankly if you're on a budget you should be building yourself

Ya maybe I am, that article just scared me into thinking I was wasting my money.

Dear lord building a laptop might as well be building a spaceship..

Ty for reply.

I think that review is probably largely accurate. If you only want the computer for Excel and poker (no HM2), then it could be fine. But my understanding is that HM2 is relatively resource intensive.

http://hm2faq.holdemmanager.com/ques...+Manager+2%3F+

That is a pretty low end processor... I imagine you could play poker on it but you might even experience some software hiccups, and chances are really high you would experience some lag if you plan on using a HUD. I really wouldn't recommend that computer for anything except the most basic user due to the processor.

If you're wanting a laptop I would go with something that at least has an i5 or AMD A8 processor in it.

2 decent options:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-554-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-539-_-Product

The reviews on 2nd option are actually good except for computer nerds wanting to upgrade their laptop...

Pretty much my worry after reading that interview..

Although I like those options I really want to get a desktop and preferably an all in one but not an absolute must by any means.. For a lot of my school work I really benefit from having a huge screen that's like 20"+.. When just doing things like looking at charts and financial statements while writing an investment idea etc..

I wish I wasnt so computer dumb.. Computer language might as well be jibberish to me lol.

I just looked at my finances... I need to stay basically @ $500 or less.. If that changes anything

Gotcha. Didn't realize that was what you were going for. Here are some other options that should work.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883266056
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA3Z91BF1583

If you already have a monitor you could probably have a desktop PC built from scratch that would be decent for that price, and actually might even be able to get something reasonable with a monitor included in that price

I had a similar "All-in-one" right up until today. Mine had only 3GB Ram and a 1.6Ghz chip. The reason I upgraded was because I was getting a noticeable lag when 24 tabling with Poker Tracker 3 and Table Ninja 2 running.

In my experience, HEM 2 uses more resources than poker tracker.

With my 3GB I was still able to 24 table and have Poker Tracker 3 running without issue. However, when I would start Table Ninja 2 the lag would be noticeable.

I could definitely four table with all software running, so from that perspective I'd say this machine would definitely handle your poker playing, for now. That might change if you were to mass multi-table, or use additional software or multitask with it.

Also, you should look around. At this time of year with school starting there are bound to be deals out there. I picked up an Acer with A10 AMD and 8GB Ram and 7200 spin on a 1TB drive and was just a hair over $500, no monitor.

Oh my.. That 23 inch HP is looking like the best I can get for under $500... And that huge screen would b absolutely amazing. I'll prolly purchase something in the next two days or so and that's gotta be the leader at this point. Thanks for the heads up!

Edit: anything I should worry about with it being refurbished? I wouldn't think so?

Building a laptop might, but building a desktop isn't. I just had a look on pcpartpicker just for fun what you could do with $400. Funny enough, it came out with $399.99.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-HD3 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($55.18 @ Newegg)
Memory: PNY Optima 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($68.89 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.98 @ OutletPC)
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($23.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: FSP Group 300W 80+ Certified Micro ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Mwave)
Total: $399.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-06 02:42 EDT-0400

That should have some decent bang, it even has an SSD. No O/S (I assume you could get some deal with the college) and no monitor (most people have that already).

^Would definitely say going this route is better if you can assemble a desktop or know someone who can

Given your new budget of $500, I'd say you can get Morphismus' suggested build assembled by someone and still be under your budget.

It is tempting but ive never assembled a computer or even replaced a single piece on one.. Im scared half way through id b lost, frustrated, and not know what to do next lol.

Its hard for me to buy a bunch of pieces when I c that HP that was posted earlier in the thread and i know it will work from the day i plug it in lol

You can probably find someone to assemble it for you. I understand a rule of thumb of assembly cost is 10% of the price of the computer.

One concern with an all in one is the fact that it is all in one. If the monitor goes out, well, think about it. With your finances, I'd take that into consideration.

There are tons of instructional videos on building on youtube, just one example:



So maybe take a look and see if you would feel comfortable doing that.

Out of respect of all the info you've gathered for me I'm gonna watch this today and see if I think I could follow along with my own pieces..... Lol wish me luck.

With getting this new computer, I would use it as an opportunity to read through the stickies on computer security and make sure you are protecting yourself from day one.

If you are unsure about your ability even a little bit, I'd find someone to build it for you. With your tight budget, if you screw something up you might not have the funds to rectify the error.

I just read through the stickied threads. Great info, I'm definitely going to be doing some things differently when I get my new comp.

And you touched on my biggest worry of building my own comp.. messing something up and either not knowing what i did wrong or not knowing how to fix it.

If you are scared to build yourself, just watch a few Carey Holzman vids on YouTube and then go ahead and do it no problem.

I watched some vids and it actually doesn't seem to bad. I've been reading some articles on like PC mag and other sites that argue for lower in computers, say <$500 with the cost of operating systems it's not even worth building your own pc bcuz it'll end up costing more than a prebuilt with similar specs..

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Yeah if you consider the full costs for Windows then you'll probably find it hard to stay (significantly) under the prize of an OTS system in that prize range. Unless maybe you look for used parts on ebay etc.

Doesn't your college made some deal with Microsoft for cheap software? My old one had and I got Windows 7 Professional for like $10.

In anticipation of the OP's next logical question, what brands of computers do you guys like and why?

You don't need to buy windows...you can always go Linux (a)

I'd really rather go windows tbh.

And my student deal gets me windows for like $60-70 I think 64.99 or something.

I just googled Windows 7 prices and if that student price is for Win7, that isn't much of a discount.